Tips for deleting your google web history.

If you are concerned about government hacking your computer to access the websites you have viewed then its not enough to simply use the clear browsing history in google.

If you sign in to your google account and visit history.google.com... you will find that all your browsing history including YouTube history is still on show.

I have just spent the last half hour removing web history as far back as 2012.

a reply to: Tindalos2013

If the government really wants your info...

they gon' get it.

This will be helpful for when the wife snoops

Thanks for that, but you can go up to the top right, click on the 3 dots, choose delete options, advanced, and delete your whole history at once.

Had to try. It would have taken me a month of Sundays to do it the other way.

Don't use Google. We complain about Government snooping, yet accept these vast unaccountable corporations can do what they like with data about us.

I've been dealing with the Google privacy "spyware" myself.
You think that the web history is bad, you should see the permissions Google grants itself when pre-loaded with, or installing any Google product onto your cell phone.

Contacts, permission to change any permissions, all calls, txts, emails, location, microphone and even camera are a few off the top of my head.

Google is the absolute plague for privacy. I always have said that Google is little too good to be true.
Military grade mapping/tracking all for free...yeeeaaaahhh right.

Duckduckgo doesn't try and tailor your searches to your history, so people will get the same results when searching, and as far as I know is safe from linking your entire life together.

People should avoid Google and social media at all costs imo.

"Thank you for choosing Progressive for your insurance. Your social networking history says that you like sports, due to increased injuries from sports, you will be placed with a high risk policy."
"I don't like sports."
"Is this you kayaking in this picture?"
"Um, yeah."
"Well, kayaking can be very dangerous, we need to protect ourselves and you, so it will cost a bit more, but you can make payments."

I hate to "rain on your parade" but chances are they have already recorded it the moment it happened. Especially if it contained websites or keywords that interests them. Cant take it back now. Also, there is no way to delete your history.Not only are there certain files on the device that retain all that no one knows , but it is recorded on servers all throughout the world. Be at peace , though , most of it cannot identify you.

originally posted by: Mandroid7


"Thank you for choosing Progressive for your insurance. Your social networking history says that you like sports, due to increased injuries from sports, you will be placed with a high risk policy."
"I don't like sports."
"Is this you kayaking in this picture?"
"Um, yeah."
"Well, kayaking can be very dangerous, we need to protect ourselves and you, so it will cost a bit more, but you can make payments."

You are so right with that.....

originally posted by: paraphi
Don't use Google. We complain about Government snooping, yet accept these vast unaccountable corporations can do what they like with data about us.

The government can "snoop" anytime they want. Doesnt matter which "corporation" driven device or application you use. And no , corporations are not concerned with your name or information just the logistics involved and what you access.

a reply to: Tindalos2013

I just avoid google. Block their cookies. Don't use their browser. Don't use their search page. Nothing. Can't stand them! When I discovered that blocking third party cookies wasn't enough, that they bypassed that to place them anyway, they lost all credibility.

originally posted by: Mandroid7
...you should see the permissions Google grants itself when pre-loaded with, or installing any Google product onto your cell phone.

Contacts, permission to change any permissions, all calls, txts, emails, location, microphone and even camera are a few off the top of my head.

Those apps request those permissions because without them, most of the core functions would not work, due to the way Android is designed.

I spend most of my free time developing and reverse-engineering Android apps and ROMs, and am a developer with one of the more prominent custom ROM teams. I assure you, there's no nefarious reasons for Google apps using the permissions that they do.

The real apps to worry about are the ones that don't explicitly ask for any permissions, and that you'd never know if they were installed.

a reply to: AdmireTheDistance

So maybe you can tell me why play store needs access to my contacts, camera and microphone?

I play with custom ROMs as well. I just disable the permissions not needed for core functions and use the apps without the data dig. The apps still work fine.

We will have to agree to disagree, if you think Google is putting these unneeded permissions into their apps for your best interest or functionality of said app.

originally posted by: Mandroid7
a reply to: AdmireTheDistance
So maybe you can tell me why play store needs access to my contacts, camera and microphone?

I'm not sure what version of Play Store you currently are using, but the latest version (and every version I can remember) doesn't require camera or microphone permissions.

As for contact, phone, and SMS permissions, those are strictly used for the 'People' category in the app's menu, to show you what apps your contacts (and people you've called/texted who aren't saved in your contacts) have installed, rated, +1'ed, etc.

If you still don't believe me, I'd be happy to send you the (pseudo) source code, and you can look for yourself to make sure that no other methods that would require those permissions are being called anywhere.

It's real difficult to do anything sneaky in an Android app, because reverting any apk back to source (not compilable, but at least human readable) is trivial.

a reply to: AdmireTheDistance

Mmhmm, sure you do..

originally posted by: Poppcocked
a reply to: AdmireTheDistance

Mmhmm, sure you do..

Sure I do what? Android development? I'm one of the devs for AllianceROM. My name on XDA (and other dev sites) is Morningstar, with the same avatar I use here. Chances are, if you're running a custom TW ROM (5.0+), you're using some of my work, or derivatives thereof.

If anyone wants to believe that Google apps (or others) require the permissions they do for some sort of secret spying or whatever, that's their prerogative. It's still not true, though. If it were, other developers (such as myself) who diff each update to see what's changed would notice it real quick.

Does Google collect metadata? Absolutely, they do. They do not, however, "spy" on anyone, hide spyware in their apps, or use "military grade tracking" to monitor you.

a reply to: AdmireTheDistance


It is goog play version 5.10.30




granting themselves permission to change any permissions..wow that one is interesting too.


They also default a setting to your phone that sends "analytics" to their server when it is shaken, which is almost all the time.

Was up with that nonsense?

a reply to: Mandroid7

Ah, my mistake. I thought you were talking about the Play Store, not Google Play Services.

GMS (ie. Google Play Services) isn't really an 'app', per se, but is a Service that acts as an API repository, for APIs used by the various Google apps. Without it, the various Google apps would be updated regularly, as they are now, but the APIs available to them would be limited to those available in whatever version of the OS the device is running.

With GMS, apps are able to use not only APIs available in the OS, but also those provided by GMS, which can receive updates independent from the OS.

GMS itself (the Service) uses very few of the permissions it requests. The reason it has so many, is because they're used by the APIs it exposes, not because actively actively uses them. Depending on what apps you use, and what specific actions you perform in those apps, some of the permissions it requests may never be used.

Regarding the analytics, I'm not sure off the top of my head exactly what information is collected, but I'm sure it specifies in a license or usage agreement somewhere. Typically, such analytic data will consist of geographic location, OS version, device/chipset information, session counts, and average session duration. No identifying information is collected, and it's a great tool for developers. Just about any major app collects and sends analytic data; some are just nice enough to let you disable it.

originally posted by: Poppcocked
a reply to: AdmireTheDistance
Well, now i know why you are so miserable and treat everyone like dog#, i would be miserable too if I had such a miserable and non rewarding hobby like you.

What the hell is your problem?

originally posted by: Tindalos2013
If you are concerned about government hacking your computer to access the websites you have viewed then its not enough to simply use the clear browsing history in google.

If you sign in to your google account and visit history.google.com... you will find that all your browsing history including YouTube history is still on show.

I have just spent the last half hour removing web history as far back as 2012.

Correct me if I'm wrong here but isn't the data kept at your ISP end and not your end? Ie: deleting things on your physical computer means nothing